Short Fuse
by MimiALala
Summary: Explosions, sad bits, bad family relationships. What's not to love?
1. Chapter 1

Eee!  
I can't believe my luck. I've been transferred to the BAU. Garcia managed to get me on the team. Man, she's good.  
Of course, I'll have to meet everybody else.  
I shift my backpack to one side and wait for the elevator to arrive.  
Some dude walks up and nods.  
The elevator opens and we climb in.  
"Floor 40?" He asks and I push the button. It doesn't matter, cause that's where I'm headed. I haven't ever seen this guy before. Then again, Seattle is pretty far from Quantico.  
Ah, Seattle. Good memories. Not such good experiences.  
My phone buzzes, cutting me out of my thoughts. It's Garcia.  
**_Garcia: U here yet?  
Me: Comin up now.  
Garcia: Wave to the camera  
Me: Whos this dude next to me?  
Garcia: That, my friend, is Derek Morgan. You'll like him.  
Me: ?  
Garcia: :D  
Garcia: You'll see...  
_**Man, she's ever the drama queen. Never changed. Probably never will.  
We've reached floor 40. The doors open, and I climb out.  
"You're here!" Garcia shrieks and tackles me. "I haven't seen you in forever! How's your mom?"  
"Actually, pretty good. She has her days, though." I say.  
"Garcia, explain?"  
"Hotch didn't tell you? Wow."  
He smiles.  
"Hey. I'm Derek. You must be the new person that Garcia hasn't told me about."  
I nod as we walk towards a small group of people. There's a little kid hanging onto one of them. AWWWWWW!  
They're laughing and talking. Smidgeit there smiles at one of them. He's adorable.  
"Hey, guys, meet the newbie." Morgan says and nudges me.  
Garcia points at the one with the kid. "This is Jennifer Jareau, Spencer Reid, David Rossi, this cutie is Henry, this is Alex Blake, over there is Aaron Hotchner, and you've already met Derek."  
I smile. "I'm Kassidy Burgess."

_Toys R Us_, _3:46 PM_  
_His eyes were burning.  
The fumes coming off the object in his lap were torture on his corneas, but this had to be done.  
His need had to be filled.  
They deserved it anyway.  
They had snubbed him.  
Gingerly, he connected the wires from the fuses in the car to the homemade bomb.  
As soon as the key was turned, his need would be filled.  
_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.  
Man, what a first day.  
Garcia has told just about every tale there is to tell about me.  
Every single story.  
After she's finished, I pull out my keys.  
"Hate to run, but I need to finish moving in." I say and they all nod.  
As soon as I get in my car, my phone rings.  
"WHAT?! I'll be right in."  
I run back inside.  
Everybody's looking at photos.  
A blown up car. Family still inside. Third explosion this month. All the same MO.  
I've seen some nasty stuff, but never at this scale.  
"This is...extremely disturbing."  
"Family of three. Anna Carter, 42, Philip Carter, 6, Tommy Carter, 3."  
"The dude who did this is just plain sick."  
"Um... kinda pointless question, but um, how would they die from asphyxiation with a blast that powerful?" I say and Reid looks at me.  
"Actually, I don't know."  
Hotch looks at both of us and then back at the screen.  
"We leave in the morning."


	2. Chapter 2

We're halfway to Seattle.  
I am reminded yet again of my loathing for heights. I really hate them.  
JJ, Reid, Blake, and Morgan are playing cards. Reid's winning.  
Rossi is asleep.  
Hotch is playing a game on his phone with his son. I think it's Draw Something or something like that.  
I'm reading. My backpack holds five books, my laptop, my sketch pad and pencils, and my headphones. It's a good sized pack.  
My book is a really good one.  
After I really get into it, I forget that I'm 20,000 feet above the ground and afraid of heights. I forget why I'm headed home. I forget that I'm the newbie.

"Kassie? Hey, we landed."  
"Wha?"  
"Wake up. We're here."  
Morgan pokes my shoulder and I groggily open my eyes. Must have fallen asleep reading. It's raining. Not surprising.  
Sunny Seattle. Home sweet home.

"Reid, Morgan and Burgess head to the crime scene. Rossi and Blake, go talk to the family of the first victims. JJ, we'll talk to the family of the second victims." Hotch says and we head off.

The crime scene is a horrible sight. Twisted metal, glass and plastic in front of a toy store is always horrible to see.  
Bits of a teddy bear here, Legos there.  
The car itself is intact, but just barely. The windows are shattered. The seats are pretty much destroyed. The front seat is gone.  
The bodies are in the morgue, thank goodness. Well, not for them, but this would be harder if no one moved them.  
The steering wheel is gone. Melted.  
The whole thing reeks like chemicals, and I don't think it's melted Legos.  
I think that if I hadn't done this before, I might puke.  
"Isn't this level of destruction a little overboard for this small a car?" I mutter and try to breathe through my mouth. It doesn't help any.  
Reid is looking at where the steering column used to be.  
"I think it was secured here. Maybe wired directly to the battery through the ignition."  
"The kids in the back are choking on the fumes from the minute they climb in. Their throat closes and they can't breathe. Mom's here, turns the key and goes boom, she dies last. That explains the kid's COD."  
By now, my eyes hurt from the residual fumes.  
We've been here for five minutes. What were those kids going through?  
"Hey guys, didn't the unsub leave a trinket behind?" I ask them.  
"Yeah. A piece of metal."  
"Where was that found?"  
"Over there on the sidewalk. Far enough to be safe and close enough to watch the carnage."

You can't hide on a sidewalk, so I look around the area and find a small hiding place in the bushes. How original.  
The imprint of bent legs are still here. The grass is wet. There's a hole where an umbrella pole might have gone.  
Creep. Watching in comfort as you kill someone. Ugh.  
"Morgan! Come here a second."  
He comes and sits in the imprint. I kinda get the idea that the unsub is heavier than Morgan from this.  
Of course, I don't actually know this. It's more of an educated guess.  
"From here I can clearly see the car. It's the perfect location for someone to sit and watch their plan come together." Morgan says.  
Reid is doing something with his phone.  
As we leave, deja vu hits me.  
This case is all too familiar for my liking.  
—


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm heading to Java Joint. Who wants what?" I ask.  
We were all up pretty late last night so I figure some coffee and scone combos will work wonders.  
"Nilla Frapuchino for me."  
"Chocmello coffee."  
"Green tea?"  
"BlacknWhite iced."  
"Green tea."  
"Plain Frapuchino please."  
"Orange Mango smoothie."

As a kid, I would often make coffee runs for whoever wanted coffee.  
Dad loved it. His squad more so.

As I head out the door after finishing taking orders, I see Reid come running up behind me.  
"Can I come?"  
"Yeah. It's not like I could stop you."  
"Well, that's not entirely true. I'm sure you could if you wanted."  
"Reid, I can, but I want some company. Besides, you can carry half the boxes." I say and he stops dead in his tracks.  
Obviously he's never bought coffee and scones for an entire police department before.

After catching up with the owner, we are loaded up with six dozen scones, three dozen cookies, the drinks, and the box of biscotti.  
You can't have coffee without biscotti. That would be like having a gun without bullets.

I walk out the door and wait for Reid to bring the snacks. I'm carrying the drinks.  
Three blocks from here to the station. Usually I'd carry everything, but Reid's here and it's nice to have extra hands.  
As I walk down the sidewalk, some girl climbs into her car.  
I see motion out of the corner of my eye.  
She's turning the key.

**FHOOOOOM!**

Flaming shrapnel is going everywhere.  
Oh. My hoodies on fire.  
**MY HOODIES ON FIRE!**

Reid's right there, pulling it off of me, pouring smoothie on my arms, making sure I'm not burned.

My face is bleeding from the shrapnel cuts.

"A-are you okay?" I ask, slightly shaken.  
He nods and I pour iced coffee on his hands.  
Reason for the drinks on the burns?  
Cold liquid on a burn helps minimize damage. It's like magic.

"Are you guys okay? I just called the cops."  
Some jabbering person is standing there, next to a doorway.  
Something about him isn't right. I can't pinpoint it, but something's not right.

Reid's hands are red, as are my arms.

The ambulance pulls up, giving me a headache in addition to my burns.

"Miss? What's your name?"  
"Kassidy Burgess. Reid's hurt more than I am though. His hands."  
"Seriously? Your hoodie was on FIRE. Your arms and back are burned. She's worse."  
The EMT is flabbergasted. I don't think she's seen anyone like us before.  
"Sir, I think we can treat you both. There's another ambulance on the way." She says.  
I can't look at the car without wanting to puke but I force myself to anyways.  
There's only one body. Not three. The unsub just evolved.

Ambulances # 2 and #3 just arrived. One for the body, one for Reid and one for me. Thank goodness.  
My back was burned and they want to look at it, which would be extremely awkward with Reid there.  
He may be someone who saved my life and all, but that would just be awkward.  
I think that he's okay with this arrangement too.

#3 just peeled out of here with the body. The EMTs want to take us to the ER, but I really don't want to.  
At least, not until the team arrives. Once they get here, I am more than willing to go to the hospital.  
"Come on, pick up already." I mutter as my phone gets Morgan's voicemail again. Third times the charm, right?

I'm sitting on the back bumper of the ambulance wrapped in a shock blanket. It was the only way that they would let me wait for the team.  
"Kassie? Are you okay?" Reid asks.  
"Yes. I'm fine. You?"  
"My hands hurt, but it could be worse."  
"Oh look, they're here. 'Bout time."  
Hotch comes running up.  
I probably look like a rabid cat that's on fire attacked me. That's how I feel, anyways.  
"You guys okay?"  
"Could be worse." I say and it starts raining.  
Just goes to show you.  
"Reid, what happened?" Hotch asks Reid.  
"The car blew up. She was close enough that her hoodie caught on fire. From there it's kinda blurry."  
We all know that's a lie, but Hotch accepts it.  
Thank goodness.


	4. Chapter 4

They're finishing preparing the profile. I've been "ordered" to rest by Hotch. Not really effective, so I'm simply taking it easy.  
I'm not going to help deliver the profile though. That one's my idea.  
I just don't feel comfortable doing it yet.  
Instead, I'm researching bombings over the last few years and the sickos who did them. Garcia's helping me.

"This case is like déjà vu." I say and she nods. Video chat is awesome like that.  
"So, um, what's Reid's deal? He's all withdrawn and stuff."  
"Oh. It's complicated."  
"Garciaaaa..."  
"Fine. No more puppy eyes."

Morgan interrupts us by walking in.  
"Hey, you sure you don't want to help? We could use your insight."  
"Is that a cruel joke or a plea for help? Either way, no."  
"Kinda both."  
I stick my tongue out at him. Childish, yes. Appropriate under the circumstances? Yes.  
"I just don't feel comfortable doing it yet. I've known most of these guys my whole life. What if I mess up or something?"  
He sighs.  
"At least come out and see how it's done. Quit being antisocial."  
That's funny right there. I'm not being antisocial. He'd know if I was.  
"You think this is antisocial? You should have seen me when I was 15."  
"Not my point. Tell me what you know about this guy."  
"Erm, what does that have to do with my antisocial tendencies?"  
"I just want to know what you know about him."  
What I think I know and what I know are two totally different things.

"Okay, here goes nothing...  
He's a control freak. Always there to make sure everything goes perfectly.  
If you saw him on the street, you'd most likely pass him by. If you did see him, he'd be nothing spectacular to see. Not many people take the time to talk with him.  
He's antisocial, probably shy to the point of hiding when people come to his house.  
He's lived in his own fantasy world forever. In his mind, he's a god. That's why he gets off on playing with people's lives.  
He has to feel in control and real people just don't cooperate the way he needs. So the next best thing he has is killing them.  
All in all, he's a sick,twisted person."

"Good job, Kassie."  
I hear shuffling paper and pens scrabbling and turn to see my team, the squad, and my dad behind me.  
Morgan!  
Uuuugggghhhh!  
I can feel my cheeks turning color.  
That's just...ARRGGGGHHH!  
"I, um, uh, err.." is all I can manage.  
Morgan is grinning and it's all I can do not to harm him in any manner.  
"Seriously, you did good. Not bad for a first time."  
"Thanks. Morgan neglected to tell me I was doing the whole profile though." I say and smile, trying to hide my embarrassment.

That torture is over. Thank goodness!  
It wasn't too bad, but still, I'd rather be forced to stay awake all night listening to screamo than be tricked into doing something again.  
Now I'm back to searching local databases for any hint that the person I profiled actually exists. Garcia has been teasing me for the past hour about it.  
I am extremely tired. Being almost blown up, being tricked into giving a profile and then being teased about it will do that to you.  
Another hard day tomorrow. Sigh.


	5. Chapter 5

My arms hurt more than they did yesterday. It looks like a bad sunburn but hurts twenty times worse. Reid's hands look like my arms.  
Painful, right?  
Garcia's still searching for creepo.  
So am I.

"Have we searched for guys with control issues involved with past bombings in any possible way? Victim, suspect, husband or brother or friend of a victim?"  
"Yep. Twice."

Reid walks in.  
The silence that follows is extremely awkward.

"Hang on a sec. I know someone who might be able to help with this." I say and pull out my phone to call someone. He picks up almost immediately.  
"Dad? Hey, it's me. Yeah. Actually, I need your help with something. Putting you on speaker."  
"So what's the ruckus about?"  
"The bombings. Did you ever work a case like this one?"  
"Give me some details?"  
"Chemical smell in and around the vehicle, driver burned to death, passengers in the back asphyxiated." Reid supplies me with the words.  
"I think I remember one like that.. It was, eh, maybe ten, fifteen years ago. One of our guys ended up in the hospital because of the fumes. You remember Henri?"  
"Yep. Tall, lanky, always carried candy canes?"  
"That's the one. Tell your techie to search for unsolved cases. We never figured that one out. "  
"Thank you, sir."  
"No. Thanks for saving her. Hey, Kassie?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Bring this guy over sometime, okay?"  
"Daaaadddd!"

My face is now the color of my arms.

"Love you."  
"Bye, dad. Love you too."

Isn't it amazing that even if you're an adult, your dad can still embarrass you?

"Kassie, your dad's cool."  
"You're only saying that cause he gave you data to finish this search."  
"So? He's cool."  
"And because he knows we have a techie."  
"So? Ooh! Found it."  
"Great! Cross that with the previous search."

I pull open the article and start reading.  
It matches except for the vehicle.  
"City bus explosion. No survivors. Eeesh. Can people get any more sick?"  
"Yes." Reid says. His expression is a dark one. Scary Reid...

Garcia's window pops back up.  
"I found something."  
"What?"  
"This fun guy here. Michael Skeg. He's been in and out of the system. He blew up mailboxes with cherry bombs when he was twelve, assault charges at fourteen and he was suspected for the bus bombing but they had no evidence and couldn't hold him."  
"Twisted guy."  
"Extremely."

"Garcia, where's he work?"  
"Uhmm... Coldwell construction. Demolitions supervisor."  
"Well, that would explain how he gets the materials needed for the bombs."  
"Yeah."  
"I'll go talk to his boss."  
"Home address?"  
"362 Oak Lane."  
"I'll head there."  
I type something into my laptop and stand up.  
"I'm going."  
"Okay. Go with Morgan."  
"Okay."

"Michael Skeg? We're with the FBI. We'd like to talk with you."  
Morgan yells after knocking on the door.  
Lights are on inside but nobody answers the door.  
I creep around to the back and see that the door is open slightly.  
That's not good.  
"Morgan? The door's open. I don't think he's here." I call.  
"That's not good."  
"I know."  
"How open is open?"  
"Like wiiide open." I gesture with my arms.  
He groans and runs around to where I am.  
"That's bad."  
"Yep."

Garcia's tracing his phone. I'm trying to figure out a trigger and a motive.  
He's blowing up families with single moms.  
Except for the last one, anyhow.  
His family life sucks.  
"His wife just left him and took their two sons. The victims must be surrogates." Blake says and JJ nods.  
"Not surprising. But why the kids? I mean, the mom makes perfect sense in his mind. She left. But what did the kids do?"  
I open my laptop back up and run a search on his family.  
"His older son was failing math, but that's no reason to blow him up." I mutter.  
Hmmmm...  
"Maybe the kids wanted to go with their mom instead of dad. That makes perfect sense.  
Your kids leave you as well as your wife, so of course you get angry. You can't control them any more. God complex only makes things worse." Morgan adds and something makes Rossi speak.  
"Maybe he's not done yet. Kassie, can you find their home with that?"  
"Sure. I mean, I'm not Garcia or anything but... Here we go. Martha Daniels. She's living in the apartment complex across from my parent's home."  
They're silent for a moment, letting that realization sink in.


	6. Chapter 6

We're getting ready to go in.  
Michael is in the house, as are his ex-wife and kids. He's armed, to some extent.  
This is a horrible thing.  
I'm reminded of something similar that happened in college.

—  
10 years ago...

_My stomach rumbles. I'm hungry.  
I try to push out of our dorm room, and immediately fall into a huge crowd. Everyone's heading towards the boys bathrooms.  
"What's happening?" I ask Kelly, my roommate, as we stop in front of the bathroom.  
"Stephen's got a geek in there. Doesn't sound good either."  
"And nobody's doing a thing? Where are your brains?"  
I shove closer to the door and my arm is grabbed.  
"Kassie, don't."  
"Andrew, let me be. You're too much of a chicken-headed coward to go in, but I'm not."  
He lets go.  
I push open the door and see a jock shoving a geek against the sinks.  
"HEY!"  
The jock looks my way, but doesn't release his victim.  
"What'd he do to you?"  
"What's it matter to you, geek girl?"  
"Everything."  
"Not telling you. Bug off."  
"Nope. I'm not leaving until he goes."  
"Well you're going to be here all day then."  
"Fine."  
We stare at each other for a few minutes. Then he looks away.  
"I've got a proposal for you."  
"Really? What could you have that I want?"  
"Nothin but a clean conscious. Let him go. I'll stay here. You win."  
His confidence flickers.  
"It's a trick, isn't it?"  
"Nope."  
He releases the geek, who runs out the door and doesn't look back.  
We stand there for a minute and then he looks at the floor.  
"Well?"  
"Well what?"  
"Aren't you going to leave?"  
"Nope."  
"Why?"  
"Cause I agreed to stay."  
His eyes close, then open.  
"Go."  
"After you."  
He walks out, followed by me.  
The crowd dissipates quickly after that.  
—_  
My mind is spinning. There are innocent kids in there. An innocent woman in there. And still we sit outside and wait.  
Waiting for what, I'm still not sure.  
Of course, I am impatient. And irritable. And hungry. And sick of all these rules and regulations that prevent us from going in.  
"Hotch, isn't there something we can do? We know he's armed."  
"We can go in, but-"  
"Well then, I'm going. Somebody's got to."  
He doesn't respond beyond nodding.  
Morgan however, is another story.  
"You shouldn't go in-"  
Already am I in a vest, heading across the street.  
He simply stands there.

The door's not even locked. That's surprising.  
I walk inside, close the door and walk into the kitchen.  
He's situated the family in chairs around the table. Lovely.  
"I have an offer for you, Michael." I say and he turns around.  
"Get out."  
"Not until they're out."  
His expression is that of hatred.  
I can't say that's a surprise.  
I just interrupted the family meeting.  
"Let the boys go. You'll still have us."  
I glance over at the woman. Her eyes are less sad now.  
I think I just said what she wanted to say.  
He motions to the boys who stand, glance at their mom and run through the house, presumably to the front door.  
I hope Morgan sees and gets them out of here.

_What was she thinking? Running inside like that? I mean, really?  
Is she trying to get herself killed?  
The door opens and two kids run out.  
Morgan sees this and runs to them, pulls them back here.  
Their mom is still inside. Kassie's still inside.  
That is it.  
I'm going in._

It's been four minutes. Four whole minutes in which he's been silent. The only noise has been the bomb's ticking.  
Suddenly, Reid comes in. Calmly. Collected.  
Of course, this situation is becoming worse.  
Reid's arrival made Skeg nervous, so he activated the bomb.  
I can clearly see the numbers counting down.  
Less than five minutes till detonation.  
It appears to be pressure activated. Great.  
Reid and I both have our guns pointed at Skeg.  
He also appears to have a knife.  
He's right behind her.  
With a knife.

Wait a second, he's holding it backwards.  
He tosses it.  
Reid!  
It hits Reid's shoulder, causing blood to start gushing.  
He's obviously in pain.  
I look at Skeg.  
"Really? What is this? Assassin's Creed? Knife throwing. Please."  
I roll my eyes for emphasis.  
"And the bombs? Sooo not original. Anyone can make a bomb."  
His eyes are dark.  
"Oh? And how would you have done it?"  
"Better than you. What is it, pressure activated? Everyone does that. Think outside of the box."

I've just pulled him from shy to talkative.  
Talkative...  
Kassie, you're an idiot.  
This guy's the guy from the explosion.

"Agent, I would suggest you choose your next words carefully. They could be your last."  
"I get where you're coming from. Really, I do. But there are better ways to accomplish these things."  
"Really? How could you understand?"  
"Trust me. It's a long story."  
"Considering we've got three minutes left, tell it."  
"This guy here. He's been ignoring me and ridiculing me since I joined up. Climbing onto the plane to get here, he calls me whimsical. Whimsical! I mean, that's like calling someone childish to the max. And now, he's only here cause he wants to be the hero. Save the day and all that garbage."  
"I see. Now do you understand?"

I'm extremely aware of the situation. Even if I can talk him down, we're still dead.  
Less than two minutes left.

"Yeah, I get it. Revenge and all that. But why are you doing it?"

MacGyver would be proud of my plan.

"Because they left! They walked out."

"Quick question? How are you supposed to turn that thing off if you can't move your arm?"  
"What?"  
I shoot his right shoulder and he screeches in pain.  
I run up and grab the bomb.  
He's still moaning in pain.  
His ex-wife runs from the room.  
'Bout stinking time.

"Reid, give me your belt." I state.  
"What?!"  
"Belt. Now."  
The pressure plate should be fooled by the pressure of the belt being tied around it.  
That should buy me some time till bomb squad gets in here.  
He hands it to me. I tie it around the pressure plate several times, till I can't pull it anymore.  
It's nothing special, but highly explosive.

Thirty seconds.  
...29...  
..28...  
..27...  
..26...  
..25...

Bomb squad bursts in, heavy duty gear on. They take it and I sit down.  
Somehow, I feel as if the world's been lifted from my shoulders.

We're flying home now.  
I wonder what's going to happen to that family...  
"Seriously though, all I saw was the bomb wrapped up in something." JJ says and Rossi responds.  
"Yeah what was that?"  
"My belt." Reid says all matter of factly.  
"Your belt? What was that doing wrapped around the bomb?"  
"Ask her." Reid says and points at me.  
"It was all I could think of. I had to keep it ticking, but I also had to check on Reid. Both hands needed. Sooo..."  
"I get it. But why his belt?" Rossi asks.  
"My hoodie was destroyed."  
Hotch is smiling.  
"And all that ranting?" Reid sounds exasperated.  
"I'm a drama freak." I say and they all start laughing.  
—


End file.
